I came across a
different point of view on Bloomberg today, and it's pretty obvious that the fat lady hasn't sung yet.
Pretty much every producer agrees that ID has to get checked and documented. It's the act of documenting every depiction that's burdensome.
Believe me, I'm having to go through the due-dilligence myself. Have a tech partner who provides the hosting for all the "sexual depictions" with compression, because you have to store all files, and an address I can use for my "custodian" over in Cyprus, just to make it a little bit more of a bitch for The Bureau to stop by. It's just one more safety net because 100% compliance is soooooooooo difficult.
I thought it important to be digital, as one mess-up in the order of the files in a hardcopy setup could actually mean 5 years prison.
If 2257 was repealed today, there would still be child pornography laws in place, which is enough to prevent pornographers from producing content with performers under the age of eighteen. Those sentences are even harsher. Those pushing child porn have been doing it since before 2257, under the risk of sentences harsher than 2257 long before the thing was even created.
Most cases of underage actresses appearing in mainstream porn have been a result of them fraudulently acquiring someone else's identity by providing false records to the DMV. All producers in those circumstances were completely compliant with 2257 standards, yet the situations still happen.
So, 2257 standards don't help fight underage performers in mainstream porn (as all producers are frightened over child porn laws), they only add a burden on the industry.
Oh, and don't think for a second that all of a sudden producers are going to quit checking IDs. Nobody wants to open that can of worms. Hopefully the record-keeping requirements get relaxed, and hopefully producers do their own due-dilligence and record keeping without having to worry about a 5-year sentence for having model releases co-mingled with the 2257 documentation.